Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1887-09-30


their profits smaller Itmay oven drive
some of them to the wall and cause their
ruin, but this never occurs unless the
product of all the concerns is
ih excess of the demand
for the: article they have to sell, Or when
the enterprise to which the disaster oc-
ours is badly managed. No legitimate
business can be permanently unprofta
BILE unless one or the other of these con-
ditions exists, or it is destroyed by hos
tile legislation at home or abroad.
But those engaged in the branch Of
manufactures referred to are not salts
fed. Their profits are not large enough,
and they are not getting rich as fast us
they would like. If they could only put
an arbitrary price upon their products
escape from the effects of the law of
free cornpetition-they would be happy;
but the public would have to pay for
their complacency. To bring this about,
the managers of-say-ffteen ci the es-
tablishments meet together and form
''trust." The real and personal proper
ty and the goodwill of each separate
concern is appraised, and from the valu-
alton thus obtained, the true worth of
its stock is established. Then the hold
ers of this stock, or 4 majority Of them,
accept stock of the "trust" in exchange
for it, the former being valued at par
and the latter at its ascertained value.
In short, the fifteen companies are con-
solidated into one. The new company
now is &c great and strong, and has COM
mand of 80 large capital, that it is able
to compel the remaining ten companies
to join it or to adopt policy in harmony
with its own. The alternative is that
they shall be crushed out Of existence.
Having destroyed competition, the
"trust" proceeds to limit the product
and fix almost any price it pleases upon
it.. In some cases it gets such control Of
the market or of the means of transpor-
tation that it is able to force all others
engaged in the same kind of business to
sell their product to it, and squeezes
them as hard as it does the general pub
lie. An example of this that occurs to
me is the fixing ofthe price of crude Pc
trolium in the new oil district of North
western Ohio by the Standard Oil Com
pany, last spring, at 81 cents barrel.
The producers had to sell their oil to the
standard, for that company had mo-
nopoly of the means of storing and
transporting it to market. ! believe the
price has been reduced even bsiow that
figure sincefs. This is the kind of a COM
bination, with lliany notifications, Of
course, that q ''tr,lst" is.
Now believe that one Of the fnnda.
mental principles Of sound public policy
is violated in allowing the creation, by
such combination as I have described,
Of an artificial monopoly in the produc-
ton of an article Of general public use,
or in rendering a service to the public
for pay. We do tolerate certain monop-
olies, and even protect them by law, but
in these cases the public expects to re-
ceive in the end benefit that shall more
than remunerate it for the temporary
tax to which it submits. Patents issued
to inventors and protective tariff laws
are familiar examples. In the former
case the inventor is given for a limited
period the exclusive right to make and
use the deyice he has patented, but
when that time expires he must surren-
der to the public the privileges of which
he has for time enjoyed monopoly.
Without the encouragement afforded by
this temporary monopoly, no one would
spend his time, labor and money in max
ing inventions, and modern life would
be avery different thing from what it is.
The free use for all time of the inven-
tions Of the present age has been bought
very cheaply by the public when it has
paid to inventors the temporary tax
which they are allowed to levy. rs
So with protective tariffs. The theory
on which they are justified is that the,
public is TO be greatly benefited by the
establishment at home Of certain kinds
Of manufacture that, without the en-;
scouragement which a protective tariff
gives, could not be successfully planted. !.
Whether the benefit is equal i'll value
to the price paid for It must be deter
mired BY the people. In this country y
majority Of the voters think it is. .j
But, it issaid, the class Of nonopolies
which, whom created by combination
are denounced as opposed to the prinei-
pie of sound public policy, do benefit
the public. The price Of petroleum, for
instance, has been enormously reduced
since the standard Oh Company OBJ
tanned substantial control Of It's produc-
ton and transpo ation to market. No
consumer has a right TO complain of the
price he nov. hss % pay for kerosene
loil. And then there are the Elevated
Railroads. of New IL Iork Who is It that
lgumbles At paying fves cents for 8 ride
llsom the Battery 70 Harlem ;in i clean,
lcomfo ortably heated and vel lighted and
1Jsnsi Hated scar'
sie ms ~ ne s loB price a
tlls islss o he